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    Testing the validity of SustainABLE-16 and SustainABLE-8 Questionnaires to assess the views of older people in Australia on environmental sustainability
    (Elsevier, 2025) Soebarto, V.; Dikken, J.; Barrie, H.; Wasserman, R.; van Hoof, J.
    Older people have an important role to play in achieving environmental sustainability; however, studies to investigate their intentions and behaviours to achieve sustainability are scarce. To respond to this gap in knowledge, the SustainABLE-16 tool has been developed to measure how older people view environmental sustainability. The tool has been validated in Poland, Romania, North Macedonia and Israel. This paper presents a further validation of SustainABLE-16 in South Australia, involving 147 older people. The results show that, similar to the previous validations, when applied in South Australia the full version of SustainABLe-16 did not meet internationally-recognised fit requirements; however, the shorter version, SustainABLE-8, is shown to be a reliable and valid measure for use in this context. With SustainABLE-8, the three latent constructs – Proenvironmental behaviours, Financial position, and Beliefs – were found to have strong factors loadings, indicating that the observed variables reliably represented their respective latent constructs. The results also showed that among the respondents there was a strong association between Pro-environmental behaviours and Beliefs; however, Pro-environmental behaviours were found to have a weak correlation with Financial position. While SustainABLE-8 has been shown to be a valid tool for use in an Australian context, further Australian validations are required particularly with more diverse samples, including older people with lower socio-economic status and culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
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    Quality indicators for safe and effective use of medications in long-term care settings: A systematic review
    (Wiley, 2025) Gutteridge, D.S.; Calder, A.H.; Stasinopoulos, J.; Javanparast, S.; Caughey, G.E.; Hillen, J.B.; Stafford, A.C.; Peterson, G.M.; Inacio, M.C.; Khadka, J.; Kalisch Ellett, L.M.; Jackson, S.L.; Hibbert, P.D.; Cations, M.L.; Corlis, M.E.; Yu, S.C.; Clark, M.J.; Soulsby, N.R.; Manias, E.; Yoo, G.H.Y.; et al.
    People accessing aged care services are increasingly older and often experience multimorbidity and polypharmacy, which puts them at risk of medication-related harm. Quality indicators (QIs) can assist with monitoring, benchmarking and informing initiatives to reduce medication-related harm. This systematic review aimed to identify and summarize QIs that assess the safe and effective use of medications in long-term care services. Bibliographic databases and grey literature were searched to identify relevant QIs. Eligible publications were in English and described the development, application and/or validation of QIs in long-term care facilities or in-home aged care services. QI information, including their development and settings, were extracted. All QIs were classified according to 3 validated classification systems and grouped by themes constructed from the review. From the 62 academic articles and 16 grey literature documents included, 53 QI sets were extracted, which comprised 442 individual QIs and 18 potentially inappropriate medication lists were identified. Most (80%, n = 354) QIs were process indicators. About 1/4 (26%, n = 115) were medication-specific QIs focusing mainly on prevalence of use and dosing, with similar numbers for infection prevention and control (25%, n = 112). A smaller proportion (7%, n = 32) of QIs encompassed person-centred measures such as resident involvement in medication-related decisions. This comprehensive overview of contemporary QIs to monitor medication safety and effectiveness across long-term care services can help clinicians, aged care providers and policy makers to identify important measures to employ in aged care settings to monitor and influence care improvements.
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    Direct whole-genome sequencing enables strain typing of unculturable Neisseria meningitidis from oropharyngeal carriage specimens
    (Microbiology Society, 2025) Coldbeck-Shackley, R.C.; Lawrence, A.; McMillan, M.; Selway, C.A.; Papanicolas, L.; Turra, M.; Marshall, H.; Leong, L.E.X.
    Oropharyngeal carriage of Neisseria meningitidis (N.m.) is a prerequisite for invasive meningococcal disease. As such, genomic surveillance of disease-causing carriage strains can inform targeted public health responses. However, whole-genome sequencing (WGS) from isolates is often precluded due to the high rates of culture failure for N.m. samples collected in carriage studies. This study outlines an alternative method to sequence N.m. directly from oropharyngeal specimens that enables high-resolution molecular fine typing. We performed direct probe-capture enrichment WGS (dWGS) of N.m. on oropharyngeal specimens from the ‘B part of it’ South Australian and ‘B part of it NT’ Northern Territory meningococcal carriage studies (NCT03089086 and NCT04398849). Sequences were analysed using currently available bioinformatic tools, including the characterization of genogroup, multi-locus sequence typing (MLST), Bexsero Antigen Sequence Typing (BAST), porA and fetA type. Sensitivity of dWGS typing compared to WGS for genogroup, MLST, porA, fetA and BAST schemes was 88.89%, 72.22%, 100%, 94.44% and 88.24%, respectively. Genogroup and porA type were more reliably characterized in unculturable samples compared to the other typing schemes assessed. Factors that influenced accurate fine typing included the amount and proportion of N.m. sequences, and the proportion of other Neisseria species in enriched sequencing libraries. An alternative phylogenetic method (phylotyping) correctly predicted the clonal complex for 93.46% of the samples assessed. These results demonstrate that dWGS enables high-resolution molecular fine typing and can be applied to unculturable samples in N.m. carriage studies.
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    Feature-based Evolutionary Diversity Optimization of Discriminating Instances for Chance-constrained Optimization Problems
    (Springer, 2025) Ahouei, S.S.; Antipov, D.; Neumann, A.; Neumann, F.; 25th European Conference on Evolutionary Computation in Combinatorial Optimisation (EvoCOP) (23 Apr 2025 - 25 Apr 2025 : Trieste, Italy); Krejca, M.S.; Wagner, M.
    Algorithm selection is crucial in the field of optimization, as no single algorithm performs perfectly across all types of optimization problems. Finding the best algorithm among a given set of algorithms for a given problem requires a detailed analysis of the problem’s features. To do so, it is important to have a diverse set of benchmarking instances highlighting the difference in algorithms’ performance. In this paper, we evolve diverse benchmarking instances for chance-constrained optimization problems that contain stochastic components characterized by their expected values and variances. These instances clearly differentiate the performance of two given algorithms, meaning they are easy to solve by one algorithm and hard to solve by the other. We introduce a (μ + 1) EA for feature-based diversity optimization to evolve such differentiating instances. We study the chance-constrained maximum coverage problem with stochastic weights on the vertices as an example of chance-constrained optimization problems. The experimental results demonstrate that our method successfully generates diverse instances based on different features while effectively distinguishing the performance between a pair of algorithms.
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    Recent advances in perovskite air electrode materials for protonic solid oxide electrochemical cells
    (Royal Society of Chemistry, 2025) Peng, C.; Han, X.; Mabaleha, S.; Kwong, P.; Zheng, Y.; Xu, X.
    Intermediate-temperature proton-conducting solid oxide cells (P-SOCs) have emerged as a promising technology for power generation and hydrogen production. They have gained significant attention due to their lower operating temperature, higher efficiency, better safety and durability and simplified water management over conventional high-temperature oxygen-conducting solid oxide cells (O-SOCs). However, the performance of P-SOC air electrodes is hindered by the sluggish kinetics of oxygen reduction and evolution reactions, necessitating efficient conductivities of H⁺, O²¯, and e¯. Despite critical advancements, the search for optimal air electrode materials remains challenging. This review provides a comprehensive overview of recent advancements in perovskite materials for P-SOC air electrodes, covering fundamental mechanisms, material development, theoretical modeling, and practical applications. It highlights key progress in reaction kinetics, structure–property relationships, and modification strategies across widely studied perovskite-based systems. Particular emphasis is placed on understanding the correlation between structural characteristics and the electrochemical activity and stability of electrodes, which is essential for the rational design of high-performance, durable P-SOC materials. Additionally, advanced methodologies and mechanistic insights into newly developed air electrode materials are explored, with a focus on the role of theoretical simulations, including artificial intelligence (AI)-driven machine learning (ML) techniques. Finally, perspectives are provided on the future development of high-performance P-SOC air electrodes for industrial applications.
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    Exploring the impact of geometric variation on electromagnetic performance in a coaxial coil system
    (Current Science Association in collaboration with the Indian Academy of Sciences, 2025) Yang, Y.; Jafari, A.; Robertson, W.; Arjomandi, M.
    To optimise coil design for creating an efficient electro-magnetic system characterised by high precision, the present study investigates the impact of varying coil geometry on the electromagnetic force generated bet-ween a pair of coaxial cylindrical coils. The study utilises a multifaceted approach to identify the rela-tionships between axial magnetic force, air-gap dis-tance and coil radial thicknesses. Systematic changes in coil geometry are made to understand the sensitivity of electrical power consumption to the generation of magnetic force, and an analytical model is used to un-derstand the relationships. In this article, limitations on the conventional magnetic force computation meth-od established by previous researchers are identified. Additionally, the results indicate that using thicker coils significantly increases magnetic force production. This advantageous amplification is counterbalanced by increased coil resistance, inevitably leading to reduced efficiency of electromagnetic force production. A mathematical model is developed here for computing the coil efficiency, and methods are proposed to simul-taneously optimise the generation of magnetic force by coils while ensuring.
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    Economic evaluation of subcutaneous ketamine injections for treatment resistant depression: A randomised, double-blind, active-controlled trial - The KADS study
    (Elsevier BV, 2025) Chatterton, M.L.; Perez, J.K.; Thai, T.; Faller, J.; Loo, C.K.; Glozier, N.; Barton, D.; Baune, B.T.; Mills, N.T.; Fitzgerald, P.B.; Glue, P.; Sarma, S.; Hadzi-Pavlovic, D.; Dong, V.; Martin, D.; Mitchell, P.B.; Berk, M.; Carter, G.; Hackett, M.; Hood, S.; et al.
    BACKGROUND: Ketamine is effective for treatment resistant depression (TRD); but cost-effectiveness evidence remains limited. AIMS: To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of subcutaneous ketamine for TRD from health sector and societal perspectives. METHODS: A cost-utility analysis alongside the KADS randomised controlled trial (RCT) involved 174 participants receiving ketamine or midazolam (active control) twice weekly for 4 weeks. Healthcare resource use, transportation, carer time and lost productivity data were collected via self-reported questionnaire at baseline, end of RCT (week 4) and RCT 4-week follow-up (week 8). Quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) were calculated using AQoL-8D utility values. Initial dosing was fixed (cohort 1) and changed to response-guided dosing (cohort 2). Base-case 1 included control arm treatment costs; base-case 2 excluded these costs. RESULTS: At end of RCT, cohort 2 utility values were significantly higher for ketamine than the control treatment (0.435 vs. 0.352; p < 0.05). Health sector incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) in base-case 1 indicated ketamine was dominant (less costly, more effective) with probabilities of falling below $50,000/QALY of 89 % (end of RCT) and 91 % (total across 8-weeks). Societal perspective probabilities were lower (30-32 %). In base-case 2, ketamine was not cost-effective (ICERs: $251,250/QALY at end of RCT; $108,500/QALY across 8-weeks), with minimal probabilities (0-5 %) of falling below $50,000/QALY. CONCLUSIONS: The initial four-week ketamine treatment phase appeared cost-effective from a health sector perspective when including control arm costs, although societal perspective results were less favourable. Excluding control treatment costs highlighted substantial uncertainty, emphasising the importance of selecting an appropriate comparator for an economic evaluation.